Many mobile computing devices such as mobile phones, navigators, electronic books, and the like provide functionality beyond that of their initial intended design. The ever increasing capabilities of the mobile phone in particular has propelled its use into areas once generally believed to be limited exclusively to fixed-base or fixed-line devices, such as displaying video or browsing the Web. This convergence of the Internet and the mobile phone has vaulted the popularity of mobile access to the Web to rival that of fixed-line access, and has fostered the growth of location-based services (LBS), such as entertainment, social, and/or information.
Although its popularity continues to increase, the mobile Web is not without its own problematic concerns. Usability issues exist and one issue in particular is associated with the physically smaller viewing area of the display screen typically used in portable devices. The smaller display screen inherently tends to detract from or hamper some of the capabilities of a web-enabled and/or LBS-capable mobile computing device, e.g., fewer windows, crowded screen navigation, and broken and compressed pages. Another issue that portable device users encounter relates to navigating among multiple pages of information displayed on the smaller display screen. It is not uncommon for a user to lose track, at least temporarily, of his current position within the several layers of information viewed on the display screen.
Although advancements have been made to enhance the visual experience with respect to the limited viewing area of the portable device, there remains a need for a more effectual appearance of considerable amounts of content rendered on smaller display screens.